[5] Although both he and his Basilian successors, Father Philip Batal and Archimandrite Basil Nahas, periodically ministered to those in Boston, the community was anxious to have its own church and a permanently assigned priest.

Two years later, in 1908, Archbishop O'Connell approved the purchase of a commercial structure at 178 Harrison Avenue in the South End of Boston, the neighborhood in which the majority of Melkites resided.

A photograph taken subsequent to the renovations shows a rudimentary iconostasis, absent doors,[9] suggesting that its interior had only superficial resemblance to the traditional styling of Byzantine churches.

The existing building was inadequate to house a congregation that had grown in numbers, as Melkites relocated to the city, perceiving that employment opportunities were more plentiful in the urban setting than elsewhere.

The new pastor was likewise frustrated in his desire to build a replacement church, initially by the financial constraints of a post-Depression economy and, subsequently, by entry of the United States into World War II.

A vacant Protestant church on nearby Warren Avenue, at the corner of West Canton Street, offered a viable solution to wartime restrictions on non-essential civilian construction and the parish purchased it.

Particularly during the last half of that decade, many Melkites moved from the South End, although they continued to travel back to their old neighborhood to attend Divine Liturgy and parish functions.

[11] However, Father Borkhohe's responsibilities to his religious order necessitated that he relocate to St Basil's Monastery in Methuen, Massachusetts, only three years after being named pastor.

As early as 1942, when they first occupied the building on Warren Avenue, a program book produced for a parish celebration already reflected significant dispersion of the parishioners among Boston's neighborhoods and suburbs, particularly those to the south.

Almost twenty years later, travel demands, a shortage of parking, neighborhood deterioration, and the need for extensive and expensive repairs, necessitated that an alternative site be identified.

[5][11] Father Bassoul's negotiations with the city, aided and encouraged by Cardinal Richard Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, who had a history of affording support to the Eastern Catholic communities within his archdiocese, were successful.

[11] At this point, Father Bassoul's efforts were halted by an announcement that the Holy Synod of the Melkite Church had elected him to head the Archeparchy of Homs, Hama, and Yabroud in Syria.

Before departing for his new position, he was ordained to the episcopate at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross on April 28, 1962, at a Divine Liturgy presided by Cardinal Cushing, garbed in Byzantine hierarchal vesture.

In discussions with the cardinal and chancery officials, it quickly became evident that, after the announcement of Father Bassoul's election as archbishop, critical momentum had been lost and the city of Boston had failed to act on the final crucial step, setting a purchase price.

[11] With a construction boom then underway in the northeast region, the priests feared that rising costs, already in excess of what had been planned, would become prohibitive if action was not taken quickly to finalize the sale and commence building.